Bloomberg, 20 October
Richard Vines enjoys a mix of traditional English dishes and less familiar offerings at the newly opened Hix at 66-70 Brewer Street, London W1, where customers need to be prepared for the noise
The menu changes twice a day, so you can’t be sure what might turn up at any particular service. My favorite starters over three meals include: Heaven and Earth, which is a Cumbrian black pudding on crushed potatoes and apples; an intense Cornish fish soup; wild duck on toast with salsify and elderberries, which features sliced meat atop a liver pate; and a seashore salad of samphire scallops, mussels, cockles and oysters that’s as powerful as Heston Blumenthal’s Sound of the Sea dish; and cod tongues with girolles. Among the main courses, the deep-fried pollock comes in the lightest, crispiest of batters and is served with mushy peas (well, they are actually crushed and a little more Lyme Regis than Leeds) with Sarson’s vinegar on the side. There’s also a hearty salt-marsh mutton, ale and oyster pie (£15.50). The only dish that hasn’t worked - and I’ve tried it twice - is the curry. The sauce was watery and the fish is tough. (Starters are £7-£9, main courses £15-£25 and desserts about £7).
Hix – review in full >>
Evening Standard, 21 October
Fay Maschler loves the honest yof the food at Dock Kitchen, Portobello Dock, 342 Ladbroke Grove, London W10, a pop-up restaurant that intends to be around for some time
The sweetcorn kernels, fried in an appealingly flimsy batter, were a cunning riposte to popcorn but even better was cauliflower and potato cooked slowly with yoghurt and north Indian spices served with a chapatti. The subtle assembly possessed all the virtues of Indian home cooking and I longed immediately to order it again but knew that brill with fresh coconut, curry leaves, south Indian spices, tomatoes and squash was on its way. This too was a wholly successful, rather wonderful dish. The spirit of pop-up allows desserts like “A big, ripe, yellow Italian peach” (£2.50) or “A few ripe Provençal black figs” (£4.50) or even “A new-season English Cox apple” (40p) but we wanted to experience cooking so ordered plum Bakewell tart with whipped cream and also chocolate and caramel ice cream. The tart was, without doubt, the best Bakewell tart I have eaten and if a meringue wash over the filling isn’t traditional then it should be. The chocolate ice cream was good, but a damson ice, which arrived unbidden, was better. (Lunch a la carte, about £12-£20 per person; set dinner from £30 per head. Rating: 4/5).
Dock Kitchen – review in full >>
Metro, 21 October
Marina O’Loughlin describes Seven Park Place by William Drabble at St James’s Hotel and Club, 7-8 Park Place, London SW1, as being on a par with the very best of the capital’s restaurants
Our food is fantastic, from first mouthful – an amuse of rosy tuna, a fluff of avocado, teeny cucumber leaves and a thwack of basil – to last sip. There's a plateful of wafer-thin discs of raw Scottish scallops with artichokes and an almost unnaturally silky lemon vinaigrette. This seems utterly straightforward but the sweetness of the shellfish contrasted with the butchness of artichoke and salty samphire creates something truly special. Likewise, perfectly cooked, almost nutty red mullet is ingeniously paired with a sauce of its own liver (ask the Japanese…), rings of seared squid and little sage fritters: deceptive simplicity, alchemy in the mouth. Seasonality is key in my main course: grouse, blood red, gamey and almost furrily tender, it's the perfect autumnal dish. Scented with thyme, it comes with the astringent tang of fat blackberries, tendrils of just-crunchy cabbage and a fried, breaded puck containing its minced innards and legs. (A dinner for two with wine, water and service, costs about £150. Rating: 4/5).
Seven Park Place – review in full >>
Time Out, 29 October
Guy Dimond says Hix at 66-70 Brewer Street, London W1, is the place to go to enjoy artworks by young British artists and good seasonal, British food
The dark, very classic British interior is reminiscent of The Ivy with its leaded glass windows – hardly surprising as designer Martin Brudnizki was also responsible for Scotts and the J Sheekey Oyster Bar. But the look cleverly subverts conservatism via artworks which include mobiles by Emin, Hirst, and Noble and Webster. The British and seasonal mantra has become something of a cliche in London gastropubs of late, except that Mark Hix does it far better than most, and has been doing it for longer. He seems to know his stuff. Although Hix himself is not cooking – he spent the entire evening of our visit glad-handing pals and regulars – Kevin Gratton, previously of Scotts, has everything under control. This is the same Gratton who Gordon Ramsay once described as ‘an exceptional cook’ – and we agree. There’s plenty to amuse and interest on the daily-changing menu. Cod’s tongues with girolles were cooked perfectly, the tongue firm but tender, the girolles more yielding, the flavours an unlikely match. Likewise, partridge is served as shredded meat on toast, with piquant elderberries and slivers of water celery. (Rating: 5/5).
Hix – review in full >>